


Oh: Realisation

by coral_dragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Study, Developing Relationship, Introspection, M/M, Relationship Study, canonverse, keith's pov, relationship musings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 23:29:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7865680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coral_dragon/pseuds/coral_dragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Keith had not really expected this to happen. To be fair though, he honestly didn’t think Lance had either. Realisation had hit them both at the same time; a synchronised “oh” escaping them both."</p>
<p>A musing on the development of Keith and Lance's relationship and their moment of realisation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh: Realisation

Keith had not really expected this to happen. To be fair though, he honestly didn’t think Lance had either. Realisation had hit them both at the same time; a synchronised “oh” escaping them both.

Looking back, Keith thinks that maybe it’s not as surprising as he originally thought. It was just that it happened so easily, so naturally, so _normally_  that nobody saw it. Or had the others had known? He wasn’t sure. It probably didn’t matter. Even if they had, they had known well enough to leave it alone and see what happened rather than meddle. If they had tried to get involved Keith was sure he and Lance would have both freaked out and this would have taken a lot longer. Actually, looking at Pidge now, with that smirk, Keith was pretty sure they at least had seen it.

Keith felt he could not be blamed for missing the signs! Yeah, Lance and he had become closer, got along better, but Keith had become closer to all of them. Somewhere along the way he had stopped feeling like an outsider from the ‘Garrison Trio’ and it had become the ‘Paladin Four’ or something (Shiro had seemed to gravitate more towards Allura and Coran, but noone had really minded). Keith had chatted and laughed with Pidge, Hunk, and Lance more and more. They did everything together. Their group was borderline inseparable. So what if more often than not he had ended up sitting next to, or grouping up with, Lance?

And yes, it hadn’t actually taken that long for Lance and Keith to stop seeing each other as rivals or annoyances and actually see each other as teammates and friends. The rivalry had never entirely stopped, but it had become healthier. The pair driving and dragging each other along so they both got better until they could fight back to back, faced with seemingly impossible odds, and laugh with each other because they knew they would pull each other through. Keith trusted Lance with his life and knew for a fact that it was mutual.

So, maybe Keith should have noticed something was happening when affectionate physical contact had increased. Yet it hadn’t seemed out of the ordinary. It had increased between everyone. Shiro liked to place a hand on his Paladin’s heads or shoulders, like he was reminding himself that they were real and there and alive. Everyone hugged Hunk; he was just so cuddly and was quick to wrap you in his arms if you were feeling down. And Pidge was like everyone’s little sister or something. It became expected for her to seek out any of them during the night if she needed company to help her through her nightmares, and they were all happy to hold her while she slept. It became pretty expected to walk into a room and find any present Paladins in physical contact with at least one other; leaning on each other, or napping in ones lap, or just brushing shoulders. If everyone other than Keith and Lance saw that they gravitated towards each other, they never said anything. So what if it just so happened that whenever they were both in the room, you could guarantee to find them touching… or sitting in each other’s laps… or curled around each other…

Really, the kicker, the defining evidence, should have been the jealousy. The fact that if Keith thought someone was flirting with Lance, he would get irrationally annoyed. And he knew it happened vice versa as well. Not to mention Lance had completely stopped flirting with everything in sight. That had only meant he was maturing, right?

But Keith hadn’t thought about any of this during their latest mission. Hadn’t realised what it had all meant when Lance got cornered and injured. No, the development of their relationship had been the last thing on his mind as he had watched Lance finally stumble from the Blue Lion, back in the hangar of the Castle, blood staining the side of his armour, but a reassuring smile from his face. Keith had often been told that he tended to act well before the thought, and this was no different. All he could think of was his relief that Lance was alive and now safe. It override everything else as Keith acted on instinct. He run forward, grabbing onto Lance’s collar, and capturing the Blue Paladin’s lips with his own, trying to express his desperation to not see Lance hurt, and the fear he had felt for Lance’s safety.

Yeah, Keith really hadn’t expected that to happen. Hadn’t even known he had wanted to do that. But now Lance was grabbing his head, fingers tangling in Keith’s hair, and kissing him back, and Keith was trying not to cry because _he was not the emotional one out of the two of them_. Lance was already crying. Suddenly it was like they both realised what they were doing and broke apart, their eyes wide as they had both gone “oh”. But they hadn’t let go of one another and Lance cut off Keith’s panicked apologies and mumbling by simply whispering “do that again”. So he did. And then they were both giggling, heads leaning together as what this meant finally hit and they both came to the conclusion that this was exactly what they wanted - exactly how it was supposed to be, even the chorus of cheers and whoops ‘about time’ comments from their teammates.

Not much has changed since then, really. The physical affection now includes kissing and hand holding and a tad more nuzzling. They also share a room now, and when Pidge comes to them she now curls up between them, cocooned by their bodies and their care. And there are many nights, when they knew they would be alone, that they set each other’s skin on fire and gasp each other’s names among praises and prayers and thanks.

They haven’t said the word. The terrifying word that starts with L. Neither feels ready. Their lives are too uncertain, with too much potential to be tragically short. But it doesn’t matter. They have confidence. Keith knows how Lance feels, and Lance knows how Keith feels. They say it through actions and through a myriad of other things instead.

Keith hadn’t expected this to happen, but he wouldn’t change this for the universe. And in the dead of night, while Lance is sleeping in his arms, he swears to whatever higher power is listening, that if they take this happiness away from him, he will tear apart the very fabric of reality just to get it back.


End file.
